“It is the first time in a month that we have seen
a structure and the whole team just stopped and stared at it for about 5
minutes – it was a very surreal experience,” wrote Team Noom’s Alexander
Skarsgard on Walking With The Wounded’s website. Skarsgard – an actor best
known for his role on HBO’s “True Blood” – accompanied three medically retired
American troops during the expedition.

“To literally see the end of this adventure was
very emotional for all of us.”

The three teams – comprised of U.S., British and
Canadian and Australian troops, respectively – started their race Dec. 1.
However, impassable weather conditions forced them to suspend the race on Dec.
7, take transportation closer to the pole, and then resume as
a group.

Mange, who has done extreme expeditions before,
said positive thinking is the key to getting through the extreme elements. She
was hit twice by improvised explosive devices while deployed to Iraq in 2006.
Her injuries led to several surgeries and she now
lives with a constant headache due to nerve damage.

“If you are constantly thinking about your pain, is
going to overwhelm you,” she was quoted as saying Friday on Walking With the
Wounded’s website. “So I noticed over the days that you just stay in a mode of
‘here now.’

“I know that everyone out here is in pain, and
they’re suffering. But if they just talk with other people and find happiness,
then this is where they’re going to be. I’m staying in the moment and I am going
to be happy where I am at.”

* * *

Photo caption: Former Army Sgt. Margaux Mange. (Photo courtesy of Walking With the Wounded)